I'm a little late in starting the discussion over here, but just take a read at the Twitter feed of Jay Bilas from August 6 and you will see that he delivered some severe ownage in showing how the NCAA profits over its players while not allowing the players to profit off themselves.

Ralph Wiley — my friend, mentor and hero — wrote a book years ago that, through a collection of essays, attempted to explain Why Black People Tend to Shout.

The explanation is rather simple: It’s been difficult for America to hear us unless we’re loud, obnoxious and rebellious. Reasonable claims of injustice and unfairness are dismissed as excuse-making by people who allegedly don’t have the necessary integrity and resolve to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Our shouts are heard, but they often go unaddressed until similar injustices impact the majority community.

Johnny Manziel is the latest example of this phenomenon.

The Heisman Trophy winner is a rule bender like Cam Newton, a rock-star partier like JaMarcus Russell and an improvisational playmaker like Michael Vick.

Somehow, America loves Johnny Football. We love him so much that we’re now ready to overthrow the NCAA and the stupid rule book that might deny us the privilege of watching Manziel attempt to duplicate his improbable freshman season. We love this rich, pampered, Justin Bieber-wannabe so much that we’re now apparently ready to deal with the fraudulence of amateurism.

Yep. This is why black people tend to shout.

Reggie Bush was an immoral, greedy punk who deserved to have his Heisman Trophy stripped from him because a potential agent rented his parents a new house. Cam Newton got called everything but a child of God because his father allegedly asked for extra money in his collection plate. Few outside of the Buckeye state cried when Terrelle Pryor got run out of college football because of free tattoos.

But Johnny Football and his autographs are game-changers when it comes to public perception of NCAA rules. Why?

For the same reason the Hippie Movement of the 1960s changed America’s perception of marijuana laws. White kids were suddenly impacted by our country’s draconian, mandatory-sentencing laws regarding marijuana. The Boggs Act of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act of 1956 stipulated that first offenders receive two-to-10 years for marijuana possession. A decade of white Hippie weed smoke caused Congress to repeal the mandatory sentencing in 1970. It took The Grateful Dead and kids like Bill Walton to awaken America to the stupidity of throwing a young person’s life away over grass.

Maybe Johnny Football can teach us to quit throwing athletic careers away over shamateurism.

Fairness, to me, would not be Manziel being treated the way the NCAA and its media collaborators have treated poor, rule-bending black athletes for years. The NCAA and its volunteer media police force have used black athletes for financial gain and career advancement for too long.

I stand in defense of Manziel with the same conviction I stood in defense of Reggie Bush. In this era of TV-money-saturated college football and basketball, the NCAA rule book is outdated, immoral and ripe for abolishment.

Once again, let me remind you of the words written by the white, conservative architect of the modern NCAA, the organization’s former, longtime president, Walter Byers:

“Today the NCAA Presidents Commission is preoccupied with tightening a few loose bolts in a worn machine, firmly committed to the neo-plantation belief that the enormous proceeds from college games belong to the overseers (administrators) and supervisors (coaches). The plantation workers performing in the arena may only receive those benefits authorized by the overseers.”

Maybe Johnny Football will help America deal with the reality Byers spelled out in stark terms in 1997.

I’m not going to demonize Manziel. Yes, he’s spoiled and out of control. But he’s a product of a sports culture we have allowed to rot by not dealing with the complications brought on by television, fame and money. Kids don’t remotely respect NCAA rules because the rules are not remotely rooted in fairness.

It’s our fault. We, the media, fought harder for the expansion of the college football season and a playoff format than we did to end the sham of amateurism. We fought for our own pleasure rather than what’s right for the kids who sacrifice their bodies. Many greedy and cowardly millionaire coaches have been reluctant to speak a truth they know firsthand out of fear they might have to share their wealth.

Maybe that will change now that a good-looking white kid is in the crosshairs.

Unfortunately, it takes a victim who looks like Manziel for the masses to fully grasp unfairness. It took Manziel’s autographs for the masses to understand a point Jay Bilas has been making relentlessly on Twitter for at least the last two years. The NCAA can profit off Manziel’s name and fame, but Manziel can’t? Really?

It’s way past time for a new NCAA rule book and policies that make football and basketball players feel less financially exploited. Most people — regardless of color, family background or economic status — respect rules based in fairness. Manziel is no different from Newton or Bush. The only difference is America’s largely sympathetic reaction to Manziel’s NCAA problems.

If you read my column regularly, you know I don’t condone all of the shouting we do. But I know why black people tend to shout. Sometimes it feels like America has one ear and two mouths when we’re talking politely.

Somehow, America loves Johnny Football. We love him so much that we’re now ready to overthrow the NCAA and the stupid rule book that might deny us the privilege of watching Manziel attempt to duplicate his improbable freshman season. We love this rich, pampered, Justin Bieber-wannabe so much that we’re now apparently ready to deal with the fraudulence of amateurism.

This is funny, because my view of this is the exact opposite from what Whitlock describes. I think that Manziel is a grade-A tool that I hope flames out in the NFL. Yet, it sucks that I actually have to defend him in the autograph scandal due to the greater suckage of the NCAA. Sigh, tradeoffs.

The better analogy than Bush would have been AJ Green, who lost 4 games for selling his own jersey from a bowl game. It was his and he sold it. I was always a Chuck Berry guy myself anyway.

Also the NCAA sucks and needs to go to an olympic model. It's bullshit that playing on a member team precludes a player from trading on his own name and likeness.

At the big time level, it's not amateur and it's true, if the players (student athletes) are allowed to trade on thier own image, it will create discrepancies (discrepancies that already exist)

That said, an athletic scholarship is payment for playing sports. They are professionals already. What needs to happen is to split up the group further and schools that don't give out Athletic Scholarships can be truely amateur, and schools that do will be on the olympic model.

As it stands, the NCAA gets into everything, but never applies their own rule equally, or fairly, or consistently, they have no subpoena power and generally use a bully pulpit as the extention of pompous univerity presidents who really just want to control the vast sums of money generated by major programs.

Players trading on their own image and likeness in no way affects title 9, becuase women would be treated exactly the same and big time swimmers, gymnasts and the occasional basketball player with high q ratings would find plenty of cash thrown their way as well. The Title IX defense for this system is a copout and a red herring.

Absolutely awesome article by Dan Wetzel. As these latest stories (Oklahoma St, Bama, Tennessee, Miss. St.) are showing The War on Paying College Athletes is just as futile as The War on Drugs. It will never end, so we need a to find a way to drop the charades and let it happen in a better manner.

I wish this great outcry about the NCAA was around a couple of years ago...

Yeah, Ohio State got royally screwed. What burns me even more is how incompetent the NCAA is about enforcing these silly rules. They hammer OSU and USC but can't put together a case against Miami, the school that certainly seems to have been flaunting the rules far more than anyone else.

I wish this great outcry about the NCAA was around a couple of years ago...

Yeah, Ohio State got royally screwed. What burns me even more is how incompetent the NCAA is about enforcing these silly rules. They hammer OSU and USC but can't put together a case against Miami, the school that certainly seems to have been flaunting the rules far more than anyone else.

That's because their investigators are basically Dwight Shrute running around hoping somebody gives them evidence. They have no power at all, so unless a school serves up the evidence themselves, the chances of the NCAA finding it is pretty low.

I wish this great outcry about the NCAA was around a couple of years ago...

Yeah, Ohio State got royally screwed. What burns me even more is how incompetent the NCAA is about enforcing these silly rules. They hammer OSU and USC but can't put together a case against Miami, the school that certainly seems to have been flaunting the rules far more than anyone else.

Wow I couldn't disagree more. The NCAA resolves this whole Texas A&M thing in like three days and don't even slap them on the wrist. Their entire "case" against Miami is based on an angry ponzi schemer who stole hundreds of millions of dollars. They can't prove anything (and all the alleged charges took place years ago before almost anybody still with the program was there) and yet 3 years later they are still hovering over UM. It's complete nonsense what they're doing to UM. I don't know how you can say Miami has done anything "far more than anyone else." I think it's becoming quite clear that just about everybody does it...Miami included, of course.

_________________"I want to see the whole picture--as nearly as I can. I don't want to put on the blinders of 'good and bad,' and limit my vision."-- In Dubious Battle

I wish this great outcry about the NCAA was around a couple of years ago...

Yeah, Ohio State got royally screwed. What burns me even more is how incompetent the NCAA is about enforcing these silly rules. They hammer OSU and USC but can't put together a case against Miami, the school that certainly seems to have been flaunting the rules far more than anyone else.

Wow I couldn't disagree more. The NCAA resolves this whole Texas A&M thing in like three days and don't even slap them on the wrist. Their entire "case" against Miami is based on an angry ponzi schemer who stole hundreds of millions of dollars. They can't prove anything (and all the alleged charges took place years ago before almost anybody still with the program was there) and yet 3 years later they are still hovering over UM. It's complete nonsense what they're doing to UM. I don't know how you can say Miami has done anything "far more than anyone else."

Maybe I'm weighing Yahoo's story on UM too heavily, but that story just alleged so much, with so many players. Then I look at what USC's football program got hit with thanks solely to Reggie Bush.

I'm glad you mentioned Manziel and A&M, though--it just goes further to show the inconsistency. In fact, that should really piss off OSU fans, since Pryor, et al essentially were accused of the same thing, yet they get multiple game suspensions, and their program loses its coach and a chance at the NCG.

4/5 wrote:

I think it's becoming quite clear that just about everybody does it...Miami included, of course.

I completely agree with you that everyone does it. This is why we need to drop the pretense that this can ever be stopped and find a better way.

I wish this great outcry about the NCAA was around a couple of years ago...

Yeah, Ohio State got royally screwed. What burns me even more is how incompetent the NCAA is about enforcing these silly rules. They hammer OSU and USC but can't put together a case against Miami, the school that certainly seems to have been flaunting the rules far more than anyone else.

Wow I couldn't disagree more. The NCAA resolves this whole Texas A&M thing in like three days and don't even slap them on the wrist. Their entire "case" against Miami is based on an angry ponzi schemer who stole hundreds of millions of dollars. They can't prove anything (and all the alleged charges took place years ago before almost anybody still with the program was there) and yet 3 years later they are still hovering over UM. It's complete nonsense what they're doing to UM. I don't know how you can say Miami has done anything "far more than anyone else."

Maybe I'm weighing Yahoo's story on UM too heavily, but that story just alleged so much, with so many players. Then I look at what USC's football program got hit with thanks solely to Reggie Bush.

I'm glad you mentioned Manziel and A&M, though--it just goes further to show the inconsistency. In fact, that should really piss off OSU fans, since Pryor, et al essentially were accused of the same thing, yet they get multiple game suspensions, and their program loses its coach and a chance at the NCG.

4/5 wrote:

I think it's becoming quite clear that just about everybody does it...Miami included, of course.

I completely agree with you that everyone does it. This is why we need to drop the pretense that this can ever be stopped and find a better way.

We probably don't really disagree here. I just hate how arbitrary everything the NCAA appears to be. Miami is most likely guilty of most of those accusations, but the NCAA spent THREE YEARS "investigating" while Miami has been self-sanctioning, not to mention the effect it has on recruiting. I hate Ohio State more than any other school in the country, but it's a complete joke that Pryor, etc got run out of town for getting a few free tatoos.

_________________"I want to see the whole picture--as nearly as I can. I don't want to put on the blinders of 'good and bad,' and limit my vision."-- In Dubious Battle

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

Agreed. The coaches know something is going to happen, so they just jump ship and leave the players to suffer. Cowardly. The NCAA should "Sean Payton" them at their new jobs.

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

Agreed. The coaches know something is going to happen, so they just jump ship and leave the players to suffer. Cowardly. The NCAA should "Sean Payton" them at their new jobs.

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

Agreed. The coaches know something is going to happen, so they just jump ship and leave the players to suffer. Cowardly. The NCAA should "Sean Payton" them at their new jobs.

right, as should the nfl.

The NFL did this with Pryor.

On the one hand, I'm not keen on the NFL enforcing punishments from bad NCAA rules. On the other, they are getting a free farm system from the colleges....

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

Agreed. The coaches know something is going to happen, so they just jump ship and leave the players to suffer. Cowardly. The NCAA should "Sean Payton" them at their new jobs.

right, as should the nfl.

The NFL did this with Pryor.

On the one hand, I'm not keen on the NFL enforcing punishments from bad NCAA rules. On the other, they are getting a free farm system from the colleges....

right, they punished a player but not the coaches that broke rules and engineered the environment for rule breaking.

this is certainly an issue to debate, but what bugs me the most is the freedom the coaches have to walk away from any trouble.

les miles being the most recent example from his Okie St. shenanigans, but pete carroll, chip kelly, urban meyer, bobby petrino, butch davis, and lane kiffin (off the top of my head) should not be able to walk around w/o any penalty.

Agreed. The coaches know something is going to happen, so they just jump ship and leave the players to suffer. Cowardly. The NCAA should "Sean Payton" them at their new jobs.

right, as should the nfl.

The NFL did this with Pryor.

On the one hand, I'm not keen on the NFL enforcing punishments from bad NCAA rules. On the other, they are getting a free farm system from the colleges....

right, they punished a player but not the coaches that broke rules and engineered the environment for rule breaking.

i'm just looking for consistency, and it's a fool's dream.

Tressel got a game suspension for whatever he was doing with the Colts. And he can't really get a coaching job in college for a few years.

I'm a little late in starting the discussion over here, but just take a read at the Twitter feed of Jay Bilas from August 6 and you will see that he delivered some severe ownage in showing how the NCAA profits over its players while not allowing the players to profit off themselves.